Adam Holland Lawsuit: Family Of Man With Down Syndrome Sue For $18 Million After Photo Sparks Meme

This original photo of Adam Holland, a man with Down syndrome, spawned a disparaging Internet meme. (Photo via WSMV-TV)

The family of a Tennessee man with Down syndrome was devastated when they discovered a photo of their disabled son had spawned a derogatory Internet meme. So to quash the widespread use of the altered image and -- hopefully -- help others who may be subjected to the offense in the future, Adam Holland's family filed a $18 million lawsuit last week.

The photo of a teenage Holland holding up a piece of his artwork during a class at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center in 2004 did not make waves until last year, when modified versions of the image that included defamatory messages popped up on numerous websites.

"It was devastating for this family, emotionally," Larry Crain, the attorney who represents the Hollands, told Nashville's WSMV-TV. "He's a very likable, very presentable young man who I don't think fully appreciates the hurt that's been inflicted on him."

Though the family is not aware of exactly how the photo sparked the meme nearly a decade later, the Hollands pinpointed several sites, including the website of Florida radio station WHPT-FM, that allegedly repurposed the photo.

"The segment 'Retarded News' is designed to highlight odd stories that are seemingly always in the news," he explained, according to the lawsuit. "These stories are NOT about disabled individuals. However, in our investigation, we noted the picture that he was using did denote a person with Down syndrome."

Woodrow Hartzog, an assistant professor at Alabama's Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, said cases like Holland's -- which involve an image being repurposed as a meme -- raise a host of legal questions and are "very difficult."

"The torts that traditionally protected individuals against harmful use of depictions and photos are largely ineffective today,” Hartzog told Nashville's The City Paper. "They are really difficult to win at trial because it’s hard to prove things like damages -- and the First Amendment has really pulled back on the scope of many of these torts."

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Racist Remarks Made By Politicians

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The late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) loosely said the "N-word" on "Fox News Sunday" in 2001, while discussing the state of race relations in the United States.

In a WPIX interview in 2012, East Haven, Conn. Mayor Joe Maturo (R) was asked what he would do for the Latino community. Maturo replied, "I might have tacos when I go home. I'm not quite sure yet."

In 2011, Texas state Sen. Larry Taylor (R) made a culturally insensitive remark while speaking at a hearing regarding an insurance company paying policy holders in a timely manner.
"Don't nitpick, don't try to Jew them down," Taylor said.

Recordings from Richard Nixon's presidency recovered in 2009 revealed that Nixon thought abortion was necessary "when you have a black and a white ... or a rape."

In 2010, South Carolina state Sen. Jake Knotts (R) referred to President Barack Obama and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) as "ragheads."
BuzzFeed released footage of the incident in 2012.

In 2006, former Florida state Rep. Ralph Arza (R) was accused by Bruno Barreiro of calling a school superintendent a "negro mierda," meaning "black piece of sh--" in English.
Arza resigned and faced criminal charges after spouting threats and racial slurs such as "n---er" in a drunken voicemail to Barreiro.

While campaigning in 2006, former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) referred to an Indian-American as "macaca," a slur typically directed to Africans.

While speaking to reporters on a campaign bus in 2000, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) used the slur "gooks" while condemning the Vietnamese prison guards who tortured him.
"I hate the gooks," McCain said. "I will hate them as long as I live."

While serving as a Missouri senator, Truman referred to waiters who served at the White House as an "army of coons" in a letter addressed to his daughter. In a letter to his wife in 1939, Truman used the phrase "n---er picnic day."

The book "Game Change" by reporters John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, published in 2010, revealed that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) made some racial remarks in reference to Obama during his 2008 campaign.
The passage in the book reads:
"[Reid] was wowed by Obama's oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama -- a 'light-skinned' African American 'with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,' as he later put it privately."
Reid apologized for the comments in a statement released in January 2010.
"I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans, for my improper comments," Reid said.

During a campaign stop in Iowa in 2012, former Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum made a controversial reference to black people while discussing welfare programs.
CBS News quoted Santorum saying he didn't want to make "black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money."
"I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families," Santorum said.
Santorum later claimed that he was "tongue-tied" and did not remember using the word "black," according to CNN.

Twelve years before he was elected to be House majority whip, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) spoke at a conference hosted by the white supremacist group European-American Unity and Rights Organization. Scalise said he was unaware in 2002 when he accepted the invitation that the group was affiliated with racists and neo-Nazi activists.